Indicator and/or control system for pulse-echo apparatus



Jan. l, 1957 A v BEDFORD 2,776,427

INDICATOR AND/0R CONTROL SYSTEM FOR PULSE-ECHO APPARATUS Filed June 1'7, 1942 4 Sheets-sheet 1 Inventor dfo rd f NO e A @Rw A... vll

Gttomeg Jan. l, 1957 A VI BEDFORD 2,776,427

INDICATOR AND/OR CONTROL SYSTEM FOR PULSE-ECHO APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 17, 1942 Mo'l'o'l Ffa. Z.

nnentor Gttorneg Jan. 1, 1957 F'HEfpuE/vcy plv/DEI? :Il A

INDICATOR AND/OR CONTROL SYSTEM FOR PULSE-ECHO APPARATUS Filed June 17, 1942V 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 CHYS'FHL PREQUE/vcM/wnm .92

PHHSL' SII/FTE H Snventor Gttornsg Jam l, 1957 A. v. BEDFORD Y 2,776,427

INDICATOR AND/OR ONTROL SYSTEM FOR PULSE-ECHO APPARATUS Filed June IL'T,v 1942 e' FG. 4e. n [L FG. 4C.

4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Snventor HZda Vedfor'd (Ittorncg nited States Patent- 2,776,427 Fatented Jan. l, 19,57

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INDIcAron AND/ma` CoNrnoL SYSTEM non nuten-Eene APPARATUS Alda V. Bedford, Collingswood, N. j., assigner to Radio vCorpnation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application .lune 17', 1942, Serial No. 447,371 Claims. (Cl. 343- -13) My invention relates to pulse echo systems and particularly to methods-and systems for determining and/or indicating rangel or distance.

The invention will be described particularly with reference to an automatic range controlsystem for anti-aircraft gunsor the like. It has previously been proposed to deter-mine range or distance of an object by transmitting a radio pulse and receiving the p ulse after reflection from the object together with aV time reference wave whereby the time between transmission and reception of the pulse may be determined. Since a radio wave travels ata known speed the distance of the reflecting Objectis thus determined. The'present system includes a phase shifting device for changing the phase relation o f the timing wave and 4the reflected pulse whereby the distance of the reflecting object maybedetermined from the amount of phase shift-when the timing wave and the reilected pulse are brought to a predetermined phase relation.

As applied to gun lire control, one object of the invention is to provide an improved" indicator 'and/or'automatic control for range. i

A further objectl ofthe invention is to provide an improvedmethod'of andmeans for determining and/or ndicating the range' orhdistance of an object. i

furtherobject of the inyention is to provide an iinproved'methodof andmeans for positioning faniechanical elementl automatically in accordance with the range or distance of a remote object.

j still"furtl;1er `object of vthe invention is to provide in a ,radio pulse-,echo system lan improyed method of and meaiishfor determining the time between the transmission of a pulse andthe reception of `the pulse after reection.

A' still' `further object `of the invention is to provide ina pulseecho system'a method of andimeans.for'rapidly Calibrating the .System- ,In `a p reterliedmlwdiment `V0f the invention as ployed` for range'indication and `autipilntavtic`gun iifre l,contrpl, the output of la crystalxoscillator is KdividedV in yfre'- qtteacy Yto `Obtain. a Signal which .kers .a :1.1. sh .feqileny radio `transfmittefr for producing the de sifedftransniitted pulses. 1f these pulses strike an' object, .Sucliafs ui-'21tr- Plane `or ship, they are reecte'd, lickft a receiver ,where they may be amplified and -`'sup li d to avcontrol The time interval between `thefinsltant ythe pulse leaves' @the transmitter and' the `instant it :reaches'the'r ,averl aftei reton is a measured the distance Ato the object? This time interval itsV determined by 'a suitable mixing circuitlfhe received pulse andatime'refer ce pulse having a known time orphase relation tojt muted pulse. Thelattalpulsemay be Qbtiried by passins '.Sigl .frQn the' Cryst-a1 `-S'1`l11at .f .thrailgl fan adjust- ,able Phase Shifter coupled .to `Irlftgr'fuid iban .div the frequency by means ofV `a chain Aof Ymulti:vilprfaftors 4or the like to Obtain `reftaneular RlJlSQS ,recurring atftie same fi'equencyas` the transmitted nd 'Yec'eiv'eii`) i The reason for starting ahlg 4Virepienc' sueh as a 819.4 kc. output from the crystal oscillator and dividingV thefrequency instead of simply starting with a lower frequency such` as 4.1 kc. (the frequency of the keying pulses) is that it gives a very exact Vernier con trol'of the phase shift of the 4.1 kc. rectangular pulses, the accuracy being 200 times greater (assuming the divisionis by 200) 'than would be the case if the crystal oscillator supplied the lower frequency signal to the phase shifter. For example, a phase shift ofone complete cycle of 819.4 kc. signal causes a phase shift 'of only V200 of one cycle at the 4.1 kc. output.

The reason for selecting the figuresY 819.4 kc. and 4.1 kc. which are the frequencies employed in ,the system to be described need not be discussed here except to say that they are arrived at, as iswell known in the art, by taking into4 account both the` speed of propagation of a radio wave and the maximumV distance from which it is desired to receive reflected'waves.

The rectangular time reference pulses supplied to the mixing circuits have steeply sloping sides so that when the reliected pulses are mixed therewith a selected reected pulse can bemade to ride on one of said steep sides by so adjusting the phase shifter that the rectangular pulses andthe reflected pulses occur in the proper phase relation. Rectangular pulses of reversed polarity and the selected reflected pulses are also supplied' to a second mixing circuit where they are added.

The outputs of the' two' mixing circuits are supplied to grid-leak biased amplifier `tu bes that function as peak retifiers and`V which have Vtheir output circuits connected in balanced relation sothat their direct current output is z'ero'when the peak values of the two applied signals with respect to their AQ-C'. axes are the same. Ify these peak values are not* the same, theresulting D. C. output Willdrive the motor'ciolnnected ,to the phase shifter and the circuit will automatically be brought into balance'. The position of the phase shifter determines the position ofa pointer on 'a calibrated'scale which, at this condition of balance, indicatesfthe range ofthe object that"v is reiiect-ing`the pulses; lso, the phasing motor preferably driyes' syncrV motors, such as Selsyn motors or-the like, for supplying the range to a computer.

'In accordance'with 'another feature of my invention, I provide suitable lock-inV or calibration connections between the niltivibrators or other frequency divider el'ements of'tlievtwo lfrequvency dividers for the purpose of makihgthm lock in Ion the proper cycle or pulse of the signalI applied theret Ien this way the system maybe quickly'calibratedat zero range as soon as power is appliedt'o'it'.

The system, when employed as a range finder, also preferably includesmeans for selecting the desired one of a plurality of reflected pulses and' for keeping the system automatically under the control of this selected pulse. 'ThusV agun may b e aimedat a particular airplane, for example, yand the gun will continue to follow it automatically even though other airplanes ily close to the one selected. l

' The invention will be better understood from the fol lowing `de ription taken in'con'nection .with the accomparing drawing-rn which i "Figure lis a circuit and block diagram of one embodiment lof the invention as applied to a range finding system for indicating range and for supplying automatically and continuously the range to a computorV or the lilge (not shown):

"Figure 2 `is a circuit diagram of the phase shifter `in Figi;

Figure 43is a circuit and block diagram showing in mo detail Vthc'jfrc'lquen oy dividers and thelockfin o r cali- -battag @meditatie and i Figures 4a to 4k and Figure 5 are -graphs which are referred to in explaining the invention.

In the several figures corresponding parts and curves are indicated by similar reference characters.

In Fig. l, a crystal oscillator operating at 819.4 kilocycles is indicated at 10. its output is supplied to a suitable frequency divider 11, which may be a chain of multivibrators, to divide the frequency by 200 and to produce pulses occurring at the rate of substantially 4.1 kc. per second. The 4.1 kc. pulses are applied to a keying unit 12 for keying a high frequency radio transmitter 13 whereby it radiates 4.1 kc. pulses of high frequency energy that will be reflected from an airplane or other distant object indicated at 14.

The reiiected pulses of R.-F. energy are received by a suitable reeciver 16 and are detected to produce the 4.1 kc. pulses indicated at 17 which are supplied through a coupling condenser 19 to the screen grid 20 of a vacuum tube 21. A positive voltage is applied to the grid 20 through a resistor 23. The tube 21, in the example illustrated, is biased to plate current cut-off by means of a biasing batery 22 which applies a negative bias to a grid 26 through a grid resistor 22a.

As will be explained, a pulse 17 can pass through the tube 21 only when it is unblocked by a gate pulse 24 applied through a switch arm to the grid 26 of tube 21. If a pulse 17 is received while the tube 21 is unblocked, it will pass over a conductor 27 to mixer circuits 28 and 29.

Referring now to the portion of the circuit for determining the time elapsed between transmission and reception of a pulse, signal from the oscillator 10 is passed through a phase shifter 31 to a frequency divider 32, which may be similar to the frequency divider 11, for producing 4.1 kc. pulses. These pulses are supplied through a wave shaper to produce rectangular pulses having steeply sloping sides as shown at 33.

Lock-in or calibrating connections between the frequency dividers 11 and 32 are provided. These connections include switches S1, S2 and S3 which are closed to calibrate the system as will be explained later.

The pulses 33 are supplied to the mixer 29. Pulses from wave shaper 30 are reversed in phase by a suitable phase reversing means indicated at 34 to produce the pulses shown at 36. These pulses are applied to the mixer 28.

The outputs of mixers 28 and 29 are shown at x and y, respectively, as they appear for a balanced condition of the system. It will be noted that for the balanced condition (explained hereinafter) the pulses 17 are positioned halfway up on oppositely sloping sides of the pulses 36 and 33 whereby the peak of pulse 17 has the same amplitude from the bases of x and y. The ratio of one-half cycle of the rectangular pulses to a steeply sloping side of a pulse is 100 to 1 in the example being described. No attempt has been made to draw the pulses shown in the several gures to scale.

The outputs of mixers 28 and 29 are supplied to vacuum tubes 38 and 39, respectively, through grid condensers 41 and 42. Grid leak resistors 43 and 44 are provided which have sufciently high resistance for a given capacity of the grid condensers to make most of the charge on the grid condensers (resulting from grid current flow) hold over between successive recurring signal peaks 17 whereby the tubes function as peak rectiiers. This type of grid leak biasing action in itself is well known.

The plate circuits of tubes 38 and 39 are connected in balanced relation, plate voltage being supplied through plate resistors 46 and 47, and they are coupled to a balanced D.C. amplifier 51. The D.-C. amplifier 51 has its output circuit connected through a pair of conductors 52 and 53 to a direct-current motor 54.

If the mixer outputs are as shown at x and y, and if the circuits of the peak rectifier 38--39 and D.C. amplier 51 are properly balanced, there will be no ow of current to the motor 54. lf, on the other hand, the time or phase relation between pulses 36 and 33 and the reected pulses 17 is different than that shown at x and y, then current will ow to motor 54 and the phase shifter 31 will be rotated at a certain rate. The phase of the pulses 33 and 36 is thus either advanced or retarded with respect to the pulse 1.7 depending upon the direction of rotation of the motor S4 as determined by the direction of unbalance of the peak rectifier and D.C. amplifier circuit. Consequently, the phase shifter is adjusted to a point where the peaks of pulses 17 are the same height above the A.C. axis at tube 38 as at the tube 39. In other words, the system is automatically brought to the condition of balance illustrated in Fig. 1 at x and y.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the position of the phase shifter at the above-mentioned condition of balance gives the time relation between the reflected pulses 17 and the time reference pulses 33 and 36. This gives the distance from the transmitter to the reflecting object 14 since radio waves travel at a known xed speed; and the distance can be shown on properly calibrated dials such as the dial shownY at 56. The same shaft that rotates the dial pointer may be coupled to syncro motors or the like for feeding the range information to a remotely positioned computer (not shown).

The phase shifter 31 may be of any suitable type such as that shown in Fig. 2 by way of example. It comprises a stator consisting of coils 61 and 62 positioned at right angles to each other and supplied with current from a phase splitter 63 so that the current in the coils 61 is substantially degrees out of phase with the current in the coils 62 whereby a rotating eld is produced. A rotor coil 64 is mechanically coupled to the motor 54 (preferably through a gear reduction unit 66) so that it may be rotated to different angular positions by operating the motor 54. In this way the voltage, induced in rotor coil 64 and supplied to the frequency divider 32, may have its phase either advanced or retarded a known amount with respect to the voltage supplied to the frequency divider 11 (Fig. l) by the crystal oscillator 10.

Fig. 3 illustrates one prefererd embodiment of the frequency dividers 11 and 32 and their lock-in or calbrating connections. Since the two frequency dividers are identical, like parts are indicated by the same reference numerals with the letter A added to the reference numerals for divider 32.

Each frequency divider comprises three multivibrators 71, 72,73 and 71A, 72A, 73A, respectively. The multivibrators in each divider chain may be alike except for the circuit constants required to make each multivibrator operate at the desired frequency and divide by the desired amount. in the example illustrated the frequency division is in three steps of 8, 5 and 5.

Referring to multivibrator 71, it comprises vacuum tubes 76 and 77 each having its anode coupled to the grid of the other tube through capacitors in the usual manner. While the multivibrator 71 (and the other multivibrators) may be of conventional design, it is preferred to include a tuned circuit 7S which is tuned to the frequency of the desired output whereby the stability of lock-in is improved. The tuned circuit 78 may be either in a plate circuit as shown or in one of the grid circuits.

The calibrating circuit for multivibrators 71 and 71A is a connection from the grid of tube 77 through a resistor 81, the switch S1 and the resistor 82 to the grid of tube 77A. There is a similar connection betweenmultivibrators 72 and 72A through switch S2 and between multivibrators 73 and 73A through S3. The three switches preferably are ganged as indicated by the broken line 83. The calibrating connections between multivibrators may be between tube anodes instead of between the tube grids, if preferred.

The calibrating switches S1, S2 and S3 should -be closed momentarily to calibrate the system each time power is applied for energizing the multivibrators and other parts of theA system. The reason that such calibration is required willbe understood byv referring to Fig. 5 where the graph marked a and Ii representsA the output of oscillator and the output of phase shifter 31 when it is ad- .justed for zero phase shift.` Graph c represents the output of multivibrator 71 and graph f represents the output lof multivibrator 71A. The multivibrators 71 and71A should lock in on the same cycle of graph a and b. lf they lock in on different cycles, vsuch as cycles 1 and 2 as illustrated in Fig. 5, there will be a time delay td between the start of a pulse (graph f) produced by M. V. 71A and the start of a pulser('graph c)V produced by M. V. 71. Ifethe multivibrators '71 and '71A lock in when the switch S1 is open, they may lock in on any cycle of the crystal oscillator output. Therefore, they may, by chance, lock in on the same cycle; they may lock in on cycles 1 and 2, respectively, as'shown inv Fig. 5; or they may lock in, for example, on cycles 1 and 3, respectively, to give a different time delay than the delay ta.

However, as soon as the switch S1 is closed the multivibrators 71 and 71A^lock in on the same cycle of graph a and b since one of the multivibrators 71 and 71A will trigger the other multivibrator through the connection 8141-82; Thus-.if MV. 11 triggers 0n cycle 1 as shown by graph c, the M. V. 71Awill be made to trigger simultaneously on this same cycle. ISimilarly, closing switchv S2 will make multivibrators 72 and 72A trigger simultaneously, and closing switch S3 will make multivibrators 73 and 73A trigger simultaneously.

The general operation of the System, particularly with respect to the matter of time delay and lock-in can be understood more readily by referring to Figs. 4a to 4k where Fig. 4a shows the output of oscillator 10 and Fig. 4b shows the same signal after it has been delayed a certain amount tg by the phase shifter 3i. Figs. 4c and 4f show that the multivibrators 71 and 71A were locked in on the same cycle of the output of oscillator 10 before the phase shifter 31 was adjusted to introduce the phase shift or delay tg. Thus, the time between the start of a pulse in signal c and the start of a pulse in signal f is the delay time tg as it should be.

Likewise, the other multivibrators in one chain have triggered simultaneously with their corresponding multivibrators in the other chain. For example, closing switch .S3 caused the multivibrators 73 and 73A having outputs d and g to trigger simultaneously.

Figs. 4e and 4,1' show, respectively, the 4.1 kc. keying pulses e (derived from the signal d) and the reflected pulses 17 picked up at the receiver. lt will be seen that the phase shift tg has been made such that the sloping sides of the pulses 33 and 36 (Figs. 4h and 4i) are centered with respect to the reflected pulse 17, at which point the motor 54 has stopped rotating the rotor of phase shifter 31. From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the phase shift tg is an accurate measurement of the time elapsed between a pulse e and a pulse 17, and, therefore, of the distance to the reflecting object.

The gate pulse 24 (Fig. 4k) may be obtained from the frequency divider 32 by means of a suitable wave-shaping circuit indicated at 86. The pulse 24 occurs in a fixed time relation to the pulses 33 and 36, this relation being such that it occurs in phase with the sloping sides of pulses 33 and 36 as shown by comparing Figs. 4h, 4l' and 4k. As previously stated, no signal can pass through the tube 21 when the switch 25 is in the position shown unless the gate pulse is on the grid 26 at that time.

As described in application Serial No. 421,071, filed November 29, 1941, in the name of Ray D. Kell, entitled Indicator and/or Control System, suitable control apparatus (not shown) may be provided to enable the control ofcer to operate the phase shifter 31 by manual control whereby the gate pulse 24 may be moved under the desired reflected pulse as shown on a suitable cathode ray tube indicator (not shown). The pulses 33 and 36, of course, are shifted in phase simultaneously with the which preferably is directive, is beingrotated (by means not shown) to search for enemy airplanes, it is desired that any received pulse will operate the systemA automatically. To permit this, the gate switch 25'ismpvcd' to the dotted line position whereby the tube 21 is no longer biased to cut-off and will'pass any received pulse 17 that is applied to the grid20. Y

i claim as my invention:

l. ln a system for determining the time relation between a transmitted' electrical pulse and a reflected electrical pulse, two signal channels, a comparatively highfrequency stable oscillator connected to supply signal to said two signal channels, a frequency divider in one of said channels for dividing said high frequency to a comparatively low frequency to produce a comparatively low frequency signal, means for producing peIDdically recurring keying pulses in synchronism with' said low frequency signal, aradio transmitter and means for keying said transmitter by said keying pulses, a frerqqliencyI divider in the other of said channels for dividing said high frequency to said comparatively low frequency to produce a time reference signal, means for producing periodically recurring time reference pulses in synchronism with said time reference signal, a phase-shifting device connected in one of said channels between the highfrequency oscillator and the frequency divider in said one4 channel, means for receiving the pulses radiated by said transmitter after they have been reefd, a utilization circuit, means for sunnlyins the reefedpulses and the time-reference pulses to said utilization circuit, means for adjusting said phase-shifting device whereby the time interval between a reflected pulse and a time-reference pulse may be determined, each of said frequency dividers comprising a plurality of frequency divider units connected in cascade, and a lock-in connection between each divider unit of one frequency divider and the corresponding divider unit of the other frequency divider for calibrating said system.

2. In a system for determining the time relation between a transmitted electrical pulse and a retiected electrical pulse, two signal channels, a comparatively highfrequency stable oscillator connect-ed to supply signal to said two signal channels, a frequency divider in one of said channels for dividing said high frequency to a comparatively low frequency to produce a comparatively low frequency signal, means for producing periodically recurring keying pulses in synchronism with said low frequency signal, a radio transmitter and means for keying said transmitter by said keying pulses, a frequency divider in the other of said channels for dividing said high frequency to said comparatively low frequency to produce a time reference signal, means for producing periodically recurring time-reference pulses in synchronism with said time reference signal, a phase-shifting device connected in one of said channels between the highfrequency oscillator and the frequency divider in said one channel, means for receiving the pulses radiated by said transmitter after they have been reflected, a utilization circuit, means for supplying the reflected pulses and the time-reference pulses to said utilization circuit, means for adjusting said phase-shifting device whereby the time interval between a reflected pulse and a time-reference pulse may be determined, each of said frequency dividers comprising a plurality of relaxation oscillators connected in cascade, and a plurality of lock-in connections between the oscillators of one frequency divider and the corresponding oscillators of the other frequency divider, respectively, for Calibrating said system.

3. In combination, a first signal channel and a second signal channel, a comparatively high-frequency stable oscillator connected to supply signal to said first signal channel and said second signal channel, a frequency di- 7 vider in said first channel for dividing said high frequency to a comparatively low frequency to produce a comparatively low frequency signal, means for producing periodically recurring pulses in synchronisrn with said low frequency signal, a frequency divider in said second channel for dividing said high frequency to said comparatively low frequency to produce a time reference signal, means for producing periodically recurring time-reference pulses in synchronism with said time reference signal, a phaseshifting device connected in one of said channels between the high frequency oscillator and the frequency divider in said one channel, a utilization circuit, means for supplying the pulses from said first channel and the time-reference pulses from said second channel to said utilization circuit, means for adjusting said phase shifting device whereby the time interval between a pulse from said first channel and a time-reference pulse may be determined, each of said frequency dividers comprising a plurality of frequency divider units connected in cascade, and a lockin connection between each divider unit of one frequency divider and the corresponding divider unit of the other frequency divider.

4. In combination, a first signal channel and a second signal channel, a comparatively high-frequency stable oscillator connected to supply signal to said first signal channel and said second signal channel, a frequency divider in said iirst channel for dividing said high frequency to a comparatively low frequency to produce a comparatively low frequency signal, means for producing periodically recurring pulses in synchronism with said low frequency signal, a frequency divider in said second channel for dividing said high frequency to said comparatively low frequency to produce a time reference signal, means for producing periodically recurring time-reference pulses in synchronism with said time reference signal, means connected in one of said channels between the high frequency oscillator and the frequency divider in saidone channel for changing the phase relation between the output of said high-frequency oscillator and the output of said one channel, a utilization circuit, means for supplying the pulses from said rst channel and the time-reference pulses from said second channel to said utilization circuit, each of said frequency dividers comprising a plurality of frequency divider units connected in cascade, and a lockin connection between each divider unit of one frequency divider and the corresponding divider unit of the other frequency divider.

5. The invention according to claim 4 wherein each of said divider units includes an electron discharge device having a plurality of electrodes, and wherein each of said lock-in connections comprises means fOr connecting an electrode of a discharge device of one divider unit to a like corresponding electrode of the discharge device in the other divider unit.

References Cited in the ile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,924,174 Wolf Aug. 29, 1933 2,134,716 Gunn Nov. 1, 1938 2,268,643 Crosby Jan. 6, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS 113,233 Australia June 2, 1941 

